WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump incorrectly stated in his address to the nation that the health insurance industry has agreed to waive patient co-payments for treatment of COVID-19. The industry has not made such a commitment.

Instead, insurers agreed to cover the full cost of diagnostic tests to see whether people have the disease. That step does not shield insured people from potentially high medical bills as a result of getting sick from the coronavirus.

On Tuesday, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the Trump administration was able to get major insurance companies to agree to waive copays on coronavirus testing.

“I’m pleased to report that as you requested, Mr. President, that all the insurance companies here, either today, or before today, have agreed to waive all copays on coronavirus testing, and extend coverage for coronavirus treatment in all of their benefit plans,” Pence announced during a meeting with President Donald Trump and insurance CEOs, according to The Hill.

If you are one of the 3 million Americans who bought health insurance on an Affordable Care Act state exchange, you may be surprised to open up the mail this summer and find two separate monthly bills. Under a new rule finalized by the Department of Health and Human Services in December, insurers are now required to issue a separate invoice for the amount of your premium that they attribute to abortion services. So you’ll get one bill for abortion services and another for the rest of your insurance coverage.

As its Christmas gift to America, President Donald Trump’s reelection campaign created a “Snowflake Victory” website that provides honest God-fearing Americans with the arguments they need to demolish any young leftist relatives they may encounter over the holidays.

Walmart is bringing its "everyday low prices" to the health care market—with an emphasis on "prices."

The big box retailer opened its first Walmart Health in-store clinic this month in Dallas, Georgia, offering primary medical, dental, vision, and mental health care. Though Walmart has not yet made public any plans for a national roll-out of similar facilities, the new clinic in the Atlanta suburbs appears to be a pilot for a new way to provide basic health care to Americans.

At a time when many insurers and health information technology companies are busily assembling databases of hundreds of millions of medical records, Americans find it difficult to get access to their own.

If you try to get yours, be prepared for confusing policies, ill-informed staff, wasted time and high costs. Even then, you may not get the records you seek. And all of this is at odds with your federal rights.

In an ideal world, most people would own their own health insurance and take it with them as they travel from job to job and in and out of the labor market. Some employers may have better insurance than people can find in the open market. But most employers would prefer to make a cash contribution to help employees pay their own premiums rather than provide insurance directly.

Before there was Obamacare, this is what some employers were actually doing.

We knew a far left wing platform was going to emerge this cycle. Heck, it happened in 2016, with the insurgent campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT). The Democratic Party’s era of even bigger government backed up with the promises of free stuff, along with economic ruin, is here to stay. Yes, there may be enough juice left in the Democratic Party establishment to prevent a truly left-wing whacko from clinching the party nomination for president. Then again, is it strong enough?

Nonpartisan congressional analysts say eliminating the penalty for not buying health insurance would increase average premiums on the individual market by 10 percent. That, in turn, would result in some people deciding not to buy health coverage for financial reasons.

Executive action expected next week would roll back some Obamacare requirements.